Let’s Talk to Kim Jong-Un

Lately Kim Jong-Un has been scrutinized for his weight and the national security implications for the region, as well as the United States. There needs to be at very least a countenance of these matters but also how to head the inevitable train wreck that North Korea could become, if Kim were to ever become incapacitated. Much speculation has swirled that if Kim ever fell seriously ill, or died, that his sister Kim Yo-Jong would take rein in his stead. Indeed there are rumors that when Kim fell ill earlier this year it was rumored that his sister was running the country. But for U.S. policy makers this uncertainty is not a feasible path forward. It therefore seems prudent that the only way to temper this bellicose regime is by contact from the U.S. with the leadership if not with Kim himself. Though potentially dangerous our options are few and the worst case scenario seems more and more likely the less we talk to him it seems.

Our stated goals for any discussions with North Korea should be the reunification of the Koreas, and the end of the Kim dynasty. Only by breaking the chain of despotic Kim family members can we truly begin to reform and prepare North Korea for the eventual end of that state as we know it. All talks on this subject should be bilateral(North Korea, and America) in nature so as to prevent errors of misunderstanding between North Korea and the outside world.

As relates to reunification those talks should be bilateral or trilateral (North, South Korea, and America) discussions that would allow for a leaderless North Korea to be absorbed by the South. By negotiating these things before hand we can then allow for the future to become inevitable for the North and defuse the potential widening of a conflict zone which has been hot longer than any other part of the world in recent memory.